Have I Said It? – “I” Am the Body

 Have I Said It?

Franklin Jones, 1973 (Adi Da Samraj)

Note to reader:

As a member of Adi Da’s (then Bubba Free John’s) community from about 1973-1975, during which time I lived for nine months in Persimmon, the sanctuary where he lived. My service was to create an index of his early books. I found these writings to be compelling, along with some of the outrageous talks that have not found their way into print. Around his birthday in 1975 (to the best of my recollection), Adi Da was planning on moving with a small group to Hawaii. For that occasion, I arranged a selection of his compelling words by topic (mostly selected from his books) and hand-wrote them in a blank book for his enjoyment. As far as I know, nothing ever came of that compilation. That became Book One of two parts, the second of which I completed some time thereafter. Now through the Internet, I make both parts available to interested readers. These blank books (I made a copy for myself) have been sitting on my bookshelves all this time, and after Adi Da’s passing, it occurred to me that this compilation would be very useful to many readers.

Enjoy,

Ed Hirsch
presenceofone@yahoo.com
Ashland, Oregon


 

Bubba Free John, 1974 – Adi Da Samraj, 2008

Chapter 11

“I” Am the Body

 

 

In your enlightenment,

When you are happy as the
body,

When you are whole body
attention

In every moment,

There is a completely different kind of
force

That you may notice.

It is a filling, descending
force.

And since you are the body
entirely,

You are completely submitted to this
event,

And may observe it.

It is the same as this loving,

The same as this
Enlightenment.

It is the sense of this fullness or being
filled.

At the same time it is infinitely
radiant.

And this force is the one that transforms
us.

In that process there is a profound
rest,

Or ease, in every moment,

That keeps the whole body in
touch

With its totality, its depth.

 

I am the body

In my Enlightenment.

I am it.

I am not mysteriously

Somehow connected to it.

I don’t originate in it in any
way,

And anything that’s me

Is not within this,

But is this body.

“me” is not within the body.

“me” is some way that the body
has

Of referring to itself.

Me, I, the subjective
reference,

Is not somebody within at all.

 

All this subjectivity

Is the way the body has

Of accounting for itself.

That does not mean that

Subjectivity survives the
body.

This body is it.

This is the mystery, this
body.

You must completely become this
body,

Allow it.

It is you.

You are not the ghost within
it.

Ask “who am I?” and you end up in
mystery,

And you have only discovered
that

“I” means nothing more than the
body.

It is a convention the body
uses.

Body is what “I” is about.

This body is consciousness,

And the mind is the world.

The body is not what we think it
is,

It is Consciousness.

It is not a matter

Of subjectivity at all.

When you know how wonderful that
is,

This world is good enough.

When you can become completely
mystified

By your consideration of it,

You have no need

For any yogic or spiritual practice at
all.

You simply need to remain

Alive in the world,

At play in it,

Completely aware

And available in your
attention.

In your ignorance, everything is
free,

Including attention.

If you do not know what the body
is,

Then you are obviously not in control of
it

In some external way to it,

You are nothing other than it.

 

The reason we cannot know what anything
is,

Is that we cannot become other than it,
at last.

We cannot differentiate
ourselves

In order to view its
existence.

In our ignorance this can be
accepted,

Because we do not have a position to
defend.

There is nothing within.

If you are not a something

That is within the body

In the first place,

You cannot be separate from it

Or anxious about its death.

It is my wisdom that makes me
peaceful,

Not all these tickets to
eternity.

That’s what your Enlightenment

Is all about.

 

At the level of the existence of
things,

We are not distinguishing ourselves at
all.

We are not other than them.

“I” is simply the body.

We are undifferentiated

In our awareness of one
another.

These two me’s becoming flesh.

That is what we submit to

In our loving.

To become exactly these bodies
only,

But not to exclude anything.

Not to be some ghost within,

But to be completely incarnate

By loving one another.

That’s what we are doing.

“I” am the body”

Is not some sort of

Mortal confession at all.

It’s an enlightened
confession,

A confession of ignorance of “I” and
body,

Not an expression of your
ordinary,

Fearful, mortal,
different-from-the-body,

Self-indulgent point of view.

That is not what “I” am the
body”

Means at all.

 

In your enlightenment,

It is a completely liberating

Realization of the body.

“I” is everyone.

“I” is the universe,

Or all things,

The process itself speaking.

But this is what you must see.

You must consider it.

I am the body altogether,

You see, like a lover.

 

You must be initiated

Into this matter of your
loving,

Because you are all so frozen,

So loveless.

The body must

Relax from its contraction of
“I.”

The body becomes glorified,

Its energy becomes
transformed.

We do not need

All that technical awareness

To go through this process

Of glorification or spiritual
transformation.

It occurs naturally in our native
condition.

I am that whole process,

I’m not other than it.

I am not viewing it

From a position

That is other than it.

The failure to be bodily
present

Brings a halt to the process.

We are not relaxed

In our enlightenment,

So the process is at a halt.

Subjectivity brings a halt

To the body’s process.

It is a form of contraction,

A way of keeping everything

Essentially as it is.

 

When “I” am the body,

All these contractions cease.

When “I” become the body
altogether,

I cease to be in an anxious

Relationship to it.

I have come to complete rest

In what it is altogether.

“I”am the body”

Is a confession,

An assumption on the basis

Of the deepest consideration

That you must know,

Must assert,

If you are to be happy,

If you are to be free.

On the basis

Of this whole consideration,

Not just the idea in saying it, you
see?

 

Consideration is the key.

That is what people should be
into.

And that is what spiritual practice
is,

Essentially.

All the rest of it

Is nothing more than

Keeping your life together

In practical ways.

 

When you realize

You are nothing but the body,

You are Conscious,

You are Consciousness.

Consciousness is body.

The “I” is the body,

But the body is consciousness.

All of this realizing

Is in Consciousness,

And it is clear

That the body

Is itself Consciousness

And not other than that.

And what the body has to be

To be Consciousness

Is a marvel to us.

How mad it is.

There is no consciousness
inside.

Every hair is thinking,

Not doing a process of
thinking

Is thinking.

This thinking is all body
itself.

There is nothing mysterious

About saying “I.”

It is very ordinary.

It is the body.

Understood in this way,

It is free,

Because there is no “you”

Apart from the body

To be worried about that.

It is completely free of its
implications.

It has no implications.

It is just what it is!

You can see how glorious it is

Because of all you can
consider

About the whole affair

This profound mystery

Of our being here at this
moment.

 

The body is the truth of it.

You do not know what it is,

It is delightful madness.

There is so much to consider.

But because I’m already
delighted,

I need nothing!

And all of it is somehow
summarized

In this instant.

The whole pattern is obvious

If you are free in your
consideration.

All patterns become obvious

By the movement of attention
only,

Not any gesture of thinking.

 

The pattern is there first,

And thought is its way

Of organizing itself.

So the truth is in universe
itself.

Attention is its gatherer.

It is a paradox.

Truth is pattern, not subjectivity at
all.

It is exactly as it appears to
be.

Thinking is a way of

Making sense out of it,

But it is not the truth of it!

It is not a matter

Of ever coming to the point

Where you have figured it out.

You are already free in it,

And unburdened from anything

You find it,

Because you do not know

What it is in any case.

You are a fool

At your leisure,

Like me.

 

Having considered everything,

I have not come upon

Anything of consequence.

What is the difference

Between the condition

That you may sense in yourself

Now, at this moment,

And a completely liberated,

Eternally happy condition

Altogether as the body?

What keeps you

From being completely

Confessed in the form

Of your own body,

Which is you?

Why can’t you be

Radiant as the body?

Why do you have to

Have some sort of

Suspicious connection to it,

As if you’re in hiding

From the body?

What body parts are

You suppressing,

Or in conflict with?

Sexuality has to be

Completely acceptable

To the body altogether.

Perhaps you’re in

Mental agreement

With your sexuality.

But not in bodily agreement.

You must feel the body.

The Heart must be open,

Radiant.

It is the principle

Of the whole body’s radiance.

Why isn’t the Heart radiant?

Why isn’t it open?

Because of this conflict

With the body,

With its vital form,

With its desiring.

It is as if

You’re afraid

That if you are Radiant

And simply happy

As the body,

You’ll do something

With this vital

That is not right.

It will be out of your control

In some way.

And you’ve been taught

To be afraid of it

Or to be in control of it.

I know you can keep it
together

If you contain yourself,

If you make the body rigid.

But only when you are

Committed to the body

In your desiring,

Will you allow the body

To express itself.

 

If love,

Radiance,

Is not your presence

Here altogether

Then you are

Constricting that principle

Vehicle,

The center of the body.

I know that everyone,

As long as they live

With any kind of

Communicative ability with
others,

Knows what it would be like

If in this moment

They changed

From whatever habit they were
into,

And worked and felt

Completely,

Radiantly happy.

In other words,

They could integrate the body,

Make it single and happy,

And be happy.

But they’re busy going through

All the complications of life
bodily,

Playing the game.

But you do not have to go

Through some routine

Of liberating yourself

From the body.

The body knows

What its happiness is.

You can revert to it.

I don’t have to tell you

“do this with the heart,

Do this with the navel.”

I don’t have to tell you

Anything about that.

Just look and feel

Radiantly happy altogether

With your whole body.

You want some

Subjective enlightenment.

But you know what it is

To be happy.

You do not have any

Information about it,

And you do not know

What it is in any case.

But you have certainty

In your being

That this happiness

Is your natural state.

Be Radiant

With the whole body,

As the whole body,

Including all of its

So-called subjectivity.

You do not want

Any philosophy.

That’s it!

At any moment.

That is total enlightenment

In the body.

Just do it!

You are not going to

Get any more proof of it

Than you now have, either.

No one will convince you of
it.

You always suppress it

In the moment.

You know

That this is

Your natural state.

And in that condition,

You are capable

Of making judgments

That are sane.

The body will immediately

Reflect that assumption

Of happiness.

You feel with your head.

You stop thinking.

You stop crumpling the
mid-brain.

When you feel with your head,

You don’t concentrate!

When you are just being happy,

You do not do anything like
that.

The navel relaxes.

All the yogic signs appear,

The energies find their proper
place.

You do not know

What it is!

It is there naturally,

You do not turn it on.

It is the illusion of the
body,

This happiness, you see?

When you become the body,

Then you can become happy.

 

No subjective information

Changes it.

That is the body’s

Inherent wisdom,

That this is your natural
state.

It is a spiritual state.

It is the spiritual state.

Can you just be happy

All the time,

Be willing to submit

To that discipline,

But do it completely in every
moment

Don’t worry about what it looks
like.

It is a good practice.

I do it.

I do not have any choice

But to do it.

It is the mood

Of my whole body.

Happiness. Blissfulness.

It is obvious to me.

And “I” am no longer

At war with the body.

I am no longer a something

That could be at war with it.

I am it altogether.

It appears like the shell
around

The snail, “I” have no technique to
create it.

Happiness is inherently

The condition of the body,

Without the least contraction

Of the Heart.

Now you may still be trying to do
it,

But you know what it would be
like

If you looked and felt

Completely happy at this
moment.

You always know it,

Even when you are trying to do
it,

Looking for what it could be
somehow.

Consider it for a moment.

You do know, you see?

But it’s not a technical thing

That you do.

You instantly know what “I”
mean.

Well, that is enlightenment
then,

In a way.

That is realization as the
body.

This should be an ordinary
obligation

In your enlightenment:

Instead of all the other things you
do,

Be completely happy

Under all conditions.

Completely happy.

You do not know what anything
is!

Be completely happy therefore!

Let the body work it out!

Then do what you do in this
mood,

With this happiness,

With the entire body.

You can do it, can’t you?

You can be completely happy,

Completely happy in this
moment!

It’s not just a mood either.

Be completely happy!

You already know how happy

You would be if you were

Completely happy.

You already know it!

So be it!

There are many messages in your whole
body.

This is the one message you’re not
responding to.

You are too busy with “I.”

Don’t be busy with “I.”

Be busy with being happy.

It is obviously right, isn’t
it?

Well, can we agree to do it?

You are all reluctant to be

Absolutely happy.

You want to go on with
struggling.

You do not want to be happy.

After enlightenment, what does it look
like?

You are completely happy as your
body.

Be happy with your genitals,

With your navel,

With your heart.

Be happy with your eyebrows,

Be happy with your whole head,

Be happy with your hands and
feet,

Be happy with your teeth,

Be happy with your eyes,

Be happy altogether.

And you are better than

Philosophers then.

You are like lovers

Rather than those

Who have argued themselves

Into trying to love!

 


Have I Said It?

Franklin Jones, 1974 (Adi Da Samraj)

More:

The Teaching

Reality

God

No Dilemma

Seeking

Suffering

Spiritual Life

Realization

Understanding

Ignorance

“I” Am the Body

Bubba Free John

The Guru

Satsang

The Devotee

The Community